RHEA BAILEY arrived on the cobbled streets with an almighty bang this year, and her character Caz Hammond's erratic behaviour has kept Coronation Street’s viewers riveted.

Weatherfield's latest bunny boiler has become infatuated with resident beauty Maria Connor in recent weeks, taking her lust to unnerving extremes. However, fans will be even more unsettled to learn the stalker's manipulation is going to "get a lot worse".

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk at last night's Inside Soap Awards, Bailey spoke about what's in store for her crazed character and warned viewers to prepare for the worst.

"It gets a whole lot worse than what people are anticipating," the 33-year-old explained. "We’ve teased the audience a lot with ‘is she gonna do this’, ‘is she gonna do that’, ‘why’s she giving that look’, and over the next few weeks it’s all going to start to unfold.

Not that she's complaining. "The last thing you wanna do is fade into the background and fade into a character nobody talks about," she beamed. "So it has been a real gift to come in for what was only meant to be a few episodes and has turned out to be a great amount of time.

"I’m really grateful and there’s been so much to get my teeth into."

Understandably, playing such an intense member of the Corrie cast can take its toll, but Bailey insists she tries to stay "upbeat".

"It can pull you down but at the end of the day, I’ve got to get into a weird headspace sometimes,” she explained.

“I was doing a bit of stalking in a scene the other day and there were people across the street laughing, and I was laughing at them, and you try and take it seriously but we’re having so much fun.

ITV

Maria and Caz have more drama ahead

Glamour at the Inside Soap Awards 2016

Tue, October 4, 2016

The Inside Soap Awards is a yearly run award ceremony run by Inside Soap magazine to celebrate British soaps and actors.